This invention relates to switching and operational support systems in the area of general telecommunications, and more particularly, to a new type of solution for forwarding data from a network element and to a new type of solution for utilizing data from a network element.
In a telecommunications network, network elements, such as telephony switches, are used to route and switch speech and data signals coming from another part of network. While performing this function the network element also generates a lot of data, which is then used for different purposes e.g. billing the customer for the phone call, billing another operator for the use of the network, or statistical data handling.
In an ordinary network element this data is combined to form several different data streams to come out of the network element. Such data streams are for instance customer billing information data stream, statistical information data stream, operational and maintenance (OMS) information data stream, customer complaint audit data stream and inter-operator billing information data stream.
Each stream consists of a different subset of information out of the total traffic information. Also when forming the different data streams, for example the information about a call, output relating to any one call can be presented in different formats in different data streams. This inconsistent way of processing the data can quite often later cause contradicting records.
Patent application U.S. Pat. No. 5,793,853 (Sbisa Daniel Charles), regarded as being the closest prior art, concerns a method and a system for recording billing information method for telecommunications service request, which generates individual records corresponding to a telecommunication switch providing services in response to requests, The system matches common services into single record. The method involves generating a primary record containing information relating to the services provided by a telecommunication switch in response to the request and an identification key. The primary record is transmitted from the telecommunication switch to a separate switch including a merge processor. One secondary record is generated. Each secondary record contains information relating to the services provided by a generic service platform in response to the service request and an identification key containing information associating the secondary record with the primary record. The secondary record is transmitted from the generic service platform to the merge processor. The identification keys of records received is compared at the merge processor. The associated primary and secondary records are merged to form a single network record containing information relating to the services provided by the telecommunication switch and generic service platform in response to the request. In this system the billing statements and statistical reports say be derived from the single network record.
The prior art solution stated above, does not provide an adequate solution for the increased bandwith, needed when the plurality of merge processors are linked to network elements, providing the primary records. Furthermore the prior art as stated requires a complex and costly update of said merge processors in case of a change of requirements or replacement of the network element, providing the primary records which are presented in a specific format.
In the following, the prior art solutions will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying FIG. 1 which is a block diagram showing an arrangement for utilizing data from a network element according to prior art.
FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an arrangement for utilizing data from a network element according to prior art. A network element is marked with reference number 1 and the data access network is marked with a reference number 2. There are several supporting systems utilizing the data from different network elements 1 such as customer billing system 3, inter-operator billing system 4 and customer care system 5 shown here, as well as network element managers 6 and 7.
A network element 1 today contains a software component module 8 that has as its function the collection, storing and outputting of call details for billing purposes e.g. the production of Call Detail Records. A network element 1 today also has additional software component modules 9-12 that have as their functions the collection, storing and outputting of call details for other purposes.
Any one call may have its details output by any one or more software component modules 8-12, however no software component module 8-12 outputs details for each and every call. The usage of multiple software component modules 8-12 causes discrepancies between the Call Detail Record output for any one call, due to internal software coordination problems.
Each of the supporting systems 3-5 and network element managers 6-7 are receiving information from the software component modules 8-12 in different network elements 1 in a form of different data streams through mediation devices 13-17 in the data access network 2. Different data streams can for instance be customer billing information data stream, inter-operator billing information data stream, customer complaint audit data stream, statistical information data stream and operation and maintenance information data stream. Each of the mediation devices 13-17 collects the data from the software component modules 8-12 in one or more network elements 1 and passes the information onwards to the supporting systems 3-5 and network element managers 6-7.
In present arrangements each of the supporting systems 3-5 and network element managers 6-7 receive data as different data streams from the software component modules 8-12 in different network elements 1. In these data streams there is forwarded only the necessary information towards the supporting systems 3-5 and network element managers 6-7. When adding a new supporting system or network element manager, one often has to arrange for a new data stream or update the existing data streams e.g. the customer billing information data stream.
Many telecommunication regulators, place regulatory requirements on the operators that raw unprocessed billing data must be archived for several years. As an expanded data stream, e.g. customer billing information data stream, would contain a lot more data than the regular data stream, the archiving requirements for this unprocessed data would drastically increase. The retrieval of additional data from the software component modules 8-12 in the different network elements 1 in the network is also hindered by the updating of old supporting systems, e.g. billing systems, that already have a high integrity and capacity demand.
All changes in the billing stream must be coordinated via the systems supporting the billing stream. This coordination usually is restricted due to integrity, security and performance issues. This resistance prevents a single usage data stream from a network element 1 being used as input to multiple systems.
In the view of the prior art there is a clear need for a method for forwarding data from a network element and for an arrangement for utilizing data from a network element that would provide a complete, unambiguous and detailed picture of traffic in the network element. Lack of such an solution has already for a quite some time been a stumbling block for the further development of the current supporting systems 3-5 and network element managers 6-7 as well as for the introduction of new supporting systems. This is due to the fact that the mediation devices and the supporting systems 3-5 in the prior art telecommunication networks are usually in-house systems and very hard to modify or update.
The aim of this invention is to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art solutions and to provide a new type of method of forwarding data from a network element and a new type of arrangement for utilizing data from a network element.
According to the first aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of forwarding data from a network element in a telecommunications network generating usage data to different data streams such as a customer billing information data stream, which is characterized by that the software module that supports the customer billing information data stream is adapted to additionally support the complete usage data information stream for the whole network element including the customer billing information. There is also provided an arrangement for utilizing data from a network element, comprising one or more network elements, a data access network and supporting systems, in which arrangement the network elements contain software component modules that, in addition to the providing of the customer billing information data streams, have as their functions the collection, storing and outputting of call details, which arrangement is characterized by that the network elements further contain software component modules that have the function of collection, storing and outputting of complete data for each and every call.